Expat Literature

[TEND]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me some suggestions for anything considering foreigners travelling about. Anything similar to Hemingway, my favorite examples being The Sun Also Rises and The Garden of Eden. Anything, along these lines would be wonderful.....so, any suggestions? :D

[bouquin]

check out A Moveable Feast. That's also by Hemingway.
And then there's F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.

[TEND]

Ah, thankyou :D these both look wonderful.

[B-Mental]

check out A Moveable Feast. That's also by Hemingway.
And then there's F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.

Both good choices there bouquin. I would have mentiond F. Scott Fitzgerald, and when I went through the expatriate writers of the 20' & 30's I found Ford Maddox Ford's "The Good Soldier" to be a good book that is often looked over.

[papayahed]

An interesting non-fiction book is Trouser People. I can't remember who wrote it but it's a writers account of his travels in Burma.

[Whifflingpin]

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29302

You might check this thread

[rgdmalaysia]

That prior thread seems more about non-fiction travel books.

In regards to fiction, all of Graham Greene's books set in foreign countries that he visited are classics IMO (especially The Quiet American, The Power and the Glory, and The Comedians).

Also "Goodbye to Berlin" by Christopher Isherwood is an excellent description of the life of an expat in the morally ambiguous and chaotic world of pre-Nazi Germany based on his real life experiences.

I'm an expat myself living in Malaysia but from USA and one day I hope to publish some of my writings on life here.

Anthony Burgess wrote a trilogy about his stay in Malaysia when it was Malaya and still included Singapore. However, I can't recommend his books....Granted, it was a long time ago but I think he totally misses the boat in in his description what life is like here!

[Whifflingpin]

"That prior thread seems more about non-fiction travel books."

True enough, although there is some fiction mentioned.

How about Conrad - Almayer's Folly. Lord Jim etc
or Somerset Maugham - Razor's Edge, Moon & Sixpence?

[B-Mental]

There is a modern expat book called "Shantaram" that is ecellent, and I hear the movie is in pre production. Its going to star Brad Pitt, I think.

[TEND]

There is a modern expat book called "Shantaram" that is ecellent, and I hear the movie is in pre production. Its going to star Brad Pitt, I think.

This one looks great, I'm gonna try and pick it up. I actually checked it out and Johnny Depp will star in the film adaption.

[B-Mental]

ahh, cheers then, I knew it was someone I like. Actually could see Leonardo Dicaprio in this too, but Depp is a great choice. Should be good, the book was excellent.

[rgdmalaysia]

"That prior thread seems more about non-fiction travel books."

True enough, although there is some fiction mentioned.

How about Conrad - Almayer's Folly. Lord Jim etc
or Somerset Maugham - Razor's Edge, Moon & Sixpence?

I'm not sure I consider Maugham's two you mentioned as books that are in keeping with the theme of this thread(although they are both masterpieces IMO)....

Yes, travel figures in the Razor's Edge and the Moon and Sixpence but it's not the main theme....Merely, one of the details in the growth and evolution of the character.

For non-fiction travel books, I find Nick Middleton (who hosts the show "Going to Extremes" on the Discovery channel) to be very enjoyable especially his book about Mongolia....I used to teach in a language school where there were a lot of Mongolian students and I think he really understands their culture and is not just a tourist looking for kicks or funny foods.

[puffin]

From what I have read, a huge number of fictional ‘expat’ works are about/ set in ‘colonies’.

There are a rake of books written by/about the British in (colonial) India. You could try heat and dust, or a passage to India. I haven't read a lot of Kipling but I’m sure he would have relevant writings.

You could also try Ishuguro’s when we were orphans (the Brits in China)

Duras’ the lover (French, and actually Chinese, in Vietnam)

Carey’s my life as a fake touches on it (Australians in Malaysia)

Heart of darkness deals with the expat/ colonial experience

Then there’s all the war books, don’t know if they are strictly ‘expat’ because they are really about people choosing to live abroad and trying to build a ‘normal’ life there, but many will deal with issues of nationhood, identity, isolation with ‘foreign’ counties. There’s a lot written about Vietnam (haven’t read it, but the quiet American is meant to be great), but also ww1, ww2 (the English patient) etc.

Oh, and if you want to get really out there, there are a lot sci-fi books written about life on space colonies etc. I have a terrible knowledge of sci-fi but I am sure people in that chat room could help.

[puffin]

oh, and to completely lower the tone of my above post... you could try alex garland's the beach.

[puffin]

Another war one, and not bad as an example of ‘expat’,- captain Corelli’s mandolin- Italians in occupied Greece. While they are technically there as an occupying force, the Italians do set up camp and do start living a quasi normal/ expat style life.

[Whifflingpin]

"I'm not sure I consider Maugham's two you mentioned as books that are in keeping with the theme of this thread(although they are both masterpieces IMO)....

Yes, travel figures in the Razor's Edge and the Moon and Sixpence but it's not the main theme...."

I'll grant you Moon & Sixpence, as it's so long since I read it.
But Razor's Edge is almost entirely set in what we'd now call (though I'm sure Maugham would have hated the term) an ex-pat community.

[Dark Muse]

I rather enjoyed Henderson The Rain King, by Saul Bellow, about a wealthy American searching for more meaning in his life, so he decides to go to Africa

[AuntShecky]

To get the exact titles and authors,I had to do an Internet search on this (you know, the one that starts with a "g" and sounds like baby talk) -- only because I don't trust my memory completely. BUT

years ago I DID read both of the following books, which gave a first-hand account of what it was like to be an ex-pat in Paris in the Roaring Twenties.

A biography of the couple, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Murphy, by
Calvin Trillin, who is a delightful writer in his own "write":
Living Well is the Best Revenge

and a memoir with dual authors: Being Geniuses Together
by Robert McAlmon and Kay Boyle

[kelby_lake]

I'm looking for some good ex-pat novels too. I've read:
Tender is The Night
A Moveable Feast
The Sun Also Rises
Quartet

Probably some others too but none come to mind.

[Propter W.]

The only book I can think of is the Rum Diary by Hunter Thompson. I haven't read it, though. Maybe someone else can tell you whether or not it fits in this thread.

[Emil Miller]

The Razor's Edge is principally about an American who travels abroad seeking enlightenment but it is largely set in Paris and the South of France where his compatriots are living. I would say that it fits in with ex-pat literature, as does 'The Moon and Sixpence' where the middle aged English protagonist spends the second part of his life living in France and Tahiti.
Gerald Durrell's 'Mountolive' is about the life of a fictitious British ambassador living in Egypt. Another book that might fit is Graham Greene's 'The Quiet American' about an American living in Vietnam during the French occupation.
George Orwell's 'Down and Out in Paris and London' partially fits the requirement and his Burmese Days about British colonialists in Burma might also be considered. Another by Graham Greene is 'England Made Me' about English ex-pats living in Sweden. 'The Keys of the Kingdom' by A.J. Cronin is about the life of a missionary living in pre-communist China.

[Syd A]

I'm not sure how you define an ex-pat novel, but probably half of Henry James's novels should fit this criterion.

[Desolation]

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

[mal4mac]

Martin Chuzzlewit was written by Charles Dickens after his trip to America in 1842. The hero makes his way to the United States to seek his fortune. An account of a swampy, disease-filled settlement named "Eden", promoted by corrupt hucksters, leads to humorous observations about the low, degraded and silly aspects of some parts of American life. It is not one of his most well known novels, but (as in all his novels) well up to the standard of the ones everyone knows about.

[Seasider]

Not great literature but Peter Mayle A Year in Provence Encore Provence and several others.

[tonywalt]

Isak Dinesen - Out of Africa

V.S. Naipaul - Any of his books, as they all concern travel. Quite political though.

Bill Bryson - Simple stuff, but I like it alot. Any of his books on travel.

[kelby_lake]

I'm not sure how you define an ex-pat novel, but probably half of Henry James's novels should fit this criterion.

Never really considered that but I suppose you're right. I'd define an ex-pat novel as a protagonist/group of characters (generally Western) living in a country with a culture quite different from theirs. It is these culture clashes that cause the problems.